Live Darts on Sunday | UK Open 2026 Day Three Preview and Order of Play
The final eight face off in a quest to be crowned 2026 UK Open champion in Minehead on Sunday.
After a pulsating first two days, 156 players have been whittled down to just eight as they vie for the record £120,000 top prize at the Butlins Minehead Resort.
With matches having been held across multiple stages on Friday and Saturday, focus now shifts solely to the Main Stage, with the quarter-finals taking place in the afternoon session, before the semi-finals and final follow in the evening.
The quarter-final line-up is comprised of six of the world’s top 11 players, as well as a further pair of multiple ranking event winners.
Luke Littler is bidding to become the first player to retain the UK Open title since Michael van Gerwen a decade ago, and the world number one faces a crunch clash with Danny Noppert in the Last Eight.
Littler is unbeaten in televised ranking competition since last October’s European Championship and has won each of the last five major ranking titles.
The teenage phenomenon, who has already claimed the World Championship, Saudi Arabia Masters, Winmau World Masters, Poland Darts Masters titles in 2026, has breezed into the latter stages without arguably getting out of third gear.
Littler thrashed Damon Heta 10-3 with a modest average of 94.8 on Friday night before battling past Kevin Doets 10-8 in the Last 32 with another sub-95 average, but turned on the style to see off 2018 champion Gary Anderson 10-5 with a 102.5 average on Saturday night.
Noppert is appearing in his sixth televised ranking quarter-final in little over 12 months, having landed a sensational nine-darter to seal victory over Dimitri van den Bergh on Friday, before going on to thrash Peter Wright 10-2 and dump out Premier League champion Luke Humphries with a 10-6 success in the Last 16.
The Dutchman will be out to avenge his 16-9 defeat to Littler in last November’s Grand Slam of Darts semi-finals.
Meanwhile, a familiar all-Welsh showdown sees World Cup winning duo Jonny Clayton and Gerwyn Price lock horns once again.
The decorated duo have met 40 times in PDC competition, with Price prevailing on 28 of those occasions, losing just once since 2023.
Clayton, however, comes into the contest as Welsh number one and has maintained the form which has carried him to the top of the Premier League, comfortably defeating Alexander Merkx, Darryl Pilgrim and Martin Lukeman so far this weekend.
Price pulled off one of the biggest comebacks in UK Open history on Saturday night, reeling off six legs on the spin from 9-4 down to deny Ireland’s Keane Barry in a deciding leg on Stage Two.
The two-time UK Open runner-up knocked Clayton out of this year’s World Masters before seeing his ten-match unbeaten streak ended in the Premier League.
Meanwhile, three-time UK Open champion James Wade comes up against 2019 runner-up Rob Cross.
Wade, an ever-present in the UK Open since the event began in 2003, has roared into his eighth quarter-final courtesy of wins over Chris Dobey, Gabriel Clemens and Michael van Gerwen, notably thrashing the Dutchman 10-3 with a 105.8 average.
This marks Wade’s sixth major ranking quarter-final inside 12 months as he bids to end a five-year wait for a major title since winning this event behind closed doors in Milton Keynes.
Cross is through to his first major ranking quarter-final since the 2024 Grand Slam, having opened with a superb win over Gian van Veen before going on to dispatch Mike De Decker in a deciding leg and overcome Daryl Gurney 10-6.
Now ranked world number 20, Cross is eyeing a first major ranking semi-final since the 2023/24 World Championship in a bid to close the gap on the world’s top 16.
The opening quarter-final sees World Cup of Darts winner Josh Rock take on Polish darting icon Krzysztof Ratajski.
Rock is vying to make it back-to-back semi-finals at the UK Open, having edged out William O’Connor in a deciding leg before going on to defeat Dominik Gruellich and Stephen Bunting 10-7.
Ratajski last reached this stage of the competition behind closed doors in 2021 and has continued his impressive start to the season with wins over Ricky Evans, Oskar Lukasiak and Ryan Searle en route to the Last Eight.
The action gets under way from 1pm GMT, with quarter-final ties to be contested over the best of 19 legs and semi-finals and final best of 21.
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UK Open 2026 Day Three Schedule of Play
Sunday March 8
Afternoon Session (1pm-5pm)
Quarter-Finals
Krzysztof Ratajski v Josh Rock
James Wade v Rob Cross
Luke Littler v Danny Noppert
Jonny Clayton v Gerwyn Price
Evening Session (7pm-11pm)
Semi-Finals
Final
